Summit Creek Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Position in Vericel Corporation $VCEL

Key Points

• Summit Creek Advisors reduced its Vericel stake by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 108,672 shares and leaving it with 422,931 shares worth about $15.23 million.
• Several other institutional investors increased their positions, including Vanguard, Conestoga Capital, and William Blair, signaling continued institutional interest in the biotech company.
• Vericel reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting a smaller-than-expected loss and revenue growth of 30.1% year over year, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $55.40.

Summit Creek Advisors LLC cut its stake in Vericel Corporation (NASDAQ:VCEL - Free Report) by 20.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 422,931 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 108,672 shares during the period. Vericel makes up about 2.4% of Summit Creek Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Summit Creek Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.84% of Vericel worth $15,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,584,006 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $129,060,000 after purchasing an additional 68,368 shares in the last quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Conestoga Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,254,562 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $81,187,000 after purchasing an additional 79,278 shares in the last quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 90.3% in the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 2,210,929 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $69,578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,048,864 shares in the last quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Vericel by 9.0% in the third quarter. Geneva Capital Management LLC now owns 1,946,305 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $61,250,000 after purchasing an additional 161,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Vericel by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 1,664,578 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $59,941,000 after purchasing an additional 169,971 shares in the last quarter.

Vericel Stock Performance

Shares of Vericel stock opened at $35.40 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 84.29 and a beta of 1.15. Vericel Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $28.95 and a fifty-two week high of $45.97. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $33.65 and a 200 day moving average of $36.05.

Vericel (NASDAQ:VCEL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.03. Vericel had a return on equity of 6.41% and a net margin of 7.35%.The company had revenue of $68.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $63.68 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.23) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Vericel Corporation will post 0.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Vericel news, insider Jonathan Mark Hopper sold 3,472 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $121,520.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,556 shares in the company, valued at $2,644,460. This represents a 4.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 7.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on VCEL. Leerink Partners restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Wall Street Zen lowered Vericel from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $64.00 price target on shares of Vericel in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on Vericel from $48.00 to $42.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Vericel from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Vericel has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $55.40.

About Vericel

Vericel Corporation is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of cell-based therapies for patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company's expertise lies in regenerative medicine, where it harnesses the power of autologous cell processing to create products designed to restore function and promote healing in damaged tissues.

Vericel currently markets two FDA-approved therapies. MACI® (autologous cultured chondrocytes on porcine collagen membrane) is indicated for the repair of symptomatic cartilage defects of the knee in adult patients.

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